Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Consumer borrowing increased $18.4 billion in December to a
record seasonally adjusted $3.84 trillion, for an annual growth rate of 5.8%.
This was down from a revised $31 billion rate in the prior month. For all of
2017, consumer credit rose at a 5.4% rate, down from a 6.7% rate in the prior year.
Most of this slowdown was for nonrevolving credit. Still, the U.S. savings rate fell to 2.4% in
December, the lowest level since 2005, indicating that households are racking
up more debt due to high consumer confidence, out of necessity, or some combination
of the two.